Home Soil
Home Soil is the nineteenth episode of the Beast Machines TV series. Synopsis High above the planet of Cybertron, a mysterious spaceship and a cluster of asteroids prepare to make planetfall. But the automated space-cannons manage to destroy the asteroids and badly damage the ship, sending it plummeting towards the planet. Flying above the city streets, Silverbolt sends word of the ship to base. Underground, a worried Optimus examines the wilting technorganic trees and ponders their survival and the future of Cybertron should they die. Cheetor tries to console him, but to no avail. Suddenly, Rattrap bursts in, telling the Maximals about the ship's crash. Megatron has also found out about the arrival of the ship and orders Thrust to destroy any survivors of the crash. Thrust obediently heads towards the site, turning this into a race against time. As the Maximals head towards the crash site, Thrust and his troops whiz by them. Several of the drones peel from the squadron and about-face, turning to fight the Maximals. Transforming into robot mode, the Maximals make short work of the Vehicons, but they have lost time. Primal splits them into three teams: He and Cheetor will travel on the surface, Rattrap and Blackarachnia will go underground, and Silverbolt and Nightscream will take to the sky. In the air, Nightscream and Silverbolt destroy a squadron of Aero-Drones, but Nightscream still treats newcomer Silverbolt rudely, even after the latter compliments their teamwork together. In the sewers of Cybertron, Blackarachnia laments to Rattrap of Silverbolt's lack of affection, even after she freed him from his Jetstorm slave form and reformatted him into his present condor form. However, the conversation is cut short as two mole drones burst in from the sides. Blackarachnia destroys one and Rattrap commandeers another, and the duo head towards the site much quicker. On the surface, Cheetor and Primal are surrounded by a group of drones. The two flying Maximals arrive to help them, and together they destroy the drones. Eventually, the Maximals arrive at the ship. Stepping inside, they discover that the walls are covered with plant matter. They are suddenly attacked by a tentacled plant beast, but when they fight it, it turns tail and heads underground, towards the Oracle and the technorganic orchard. Primal fears that the fast-growing seeds the alien leaves in its wake will contaminate and destroy the orchard. However, he has a plan: Tapping the power of the Oracle, he attempts to reformat the monster. Cheetor protests, seeing as only "Cybertronians" can be reformatted, but Primal goes ahead with his idea, and the alien is bathed in a white light. The organic components of the creature begin to merge with the technological, and a technorganic, sentient plant emerges. The creature explains that she too is of Cybertronian descent, and that several years ago, she and her crew embarked on a mission of exploration similar to the ''Axalon'''s (except without all the guns, violence and killing). Reaching a planet covered with aggressive, mobile plants (in other words, "talking trees"), she and her crew took the natives' forms to study them and avoid predation. The plant says that Megatron's attack had "shorted out" both her ship and her higher mental functions, so she was merely acting out of self-preservation. But the plant-bot is cut short as a phalanx of Tank Drones attack, beginning to ravage the orchard. The newest member of the Maximals takes action, transforming into her robot mode. Shooting one drone with electrical energy, she uses a "chain-lightning" attack, with the energy leaping from one tank to the next, until the deadly circuit is completed and the drones are destroyed. Examining the poor state of the plants, the robot notes that different plants need different lighting, and she throws a bomb-like device onto the lights currently used. As the light changes, the technorganic plants flourish, and the new Maximal introduces herself as Botanica. Above, Megatron (encompassed within the big floating head) notes the newest arrival and transforms into a "spaceship mode", destroying the remains of Botanica's ship and the rampant plant growth around it. As Thrust gripes about the ever-increasing odds against him, Megatron declares that it is time to put an end to the Maximal "infestation" for good. Transcript *Home Soil/Transcript Category:Episodes Category:Beast Machines episodes